


Security Footage

by butihavejoy (kjack89)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Drabble, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Son Relationship, Ficlet, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), i love that that's a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 11:46:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15795861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kjack89/pseuds/butihavejoy
Summary: “Hey kiddo, it’s time to get up.”Peter cracked one eye open. “Five more minutes,” he said on instinct, only there was no response from Tony, no low chuckle or pillow chucked at his face or blanket yanked from his bed or whichever method of getting a teenager up Tony had decided to deploy that day.Then it hit Peter like a ton of bricks, like it did every morning when it took his brain a few minutes to catch up to his memory: Tony was gone.





	Security Footage

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ReginaCole](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReginaCole/gifts).



> Just some sad little Iron Dad & Spider-son feels because I like pain :)
> 
> For the amazing Reagan whom I love to bits <3 I don't usually write MCU fic so, you know, be gentle.
> 
> Usual disclaimer — anything you recognize is not mine. Please be kind and tip your fanfic writers in the form of comments and/or kudos!

“Hey kiddo, it’s time to get up.” **  
**

Peter cracked one eye open. “Five more minutes,” he said on instinct, only there was no response from Tony, no low chuckle or pillow chucked at his face or blanket yanked from his bed or whichever method of getting a teenager up Tony had decided to deploy that day.

Then it hit Peter like a ton of bricks, like it did every morning when it took his brain a few minutes to catch up to his memory: Tony was gone. Dead. Had sacrificed himself to bring back everyone who had been lost to Thanos.

Had sacrificed himself to bring back _Peter._

Peter sat up in bed, drawing his knees up to his chest and rubbing his eyes a little too vigorously to just be clearing them from sleep. His throat felt painfully tight and something in his chest hurt and—

“You gonna stay in bed all day or what?”

Peter looked up, eyes red-rimmed, but there was no familiar figure leaning against the doorway of his bedroom at the Avengers facility.

Great, so now he was hearing things on top of everything else.

But something about it didn’t seem like a hallucination, and maybe it was Peter’s last vestiges of hope still clinging to what remained of his heart, but when he heard it again — “C’mon, kid, the lab waits for no man, beast or child. Especially if I’ve left DUM-E in charge” — he scrambled to his feet, racing out the door.

He knew better.

Every logical part of his brain was reminding him that Tony was gone, that he was never coming back, but that didn’t stop Peter from racing toward the lab, practically sprinting down the hall, his heart pounding painfully in his chest. “Mr. Stark!” he called. “Mr. Stark! Mr—”

He skidded to a stop just inside the lab, his call dying on his lips.

There was no one inside.

Peter felt it like a blow to the stomach, and he slid to the ground, his back against the lab’s wall. He didn’t bother trying to stem the tears, just cradling his head in his hands and gripping his hair. He had just closed his eyes when he heard it again, echoing just slightly.

“Seriously, I know you’re a teenager but you’re burning daylight, Pete.”

Echoing…

A hallucination wouldn’t echo in the empty lab.

Peter looked up slowly, finally pinpointing where the sound was coming from: one of Tony’s computers, its screen lit with an image, unlike the blank screens around it.

Slowly, Peter stood, making his way to the computer. “F.R.I.D.A.Y….?” he started, freezing when the computer made noise again.

This time, it wasn’t Tony’s voice he heard.

It was his.

“Mr. Stark,” Peter’s voice was saying, laughing. “C’mon, Mr. Stark, gimme my pillow back.”

“Pillows are for Avengers, kid,” Tony’s voice said, “not sleepyheads intent on ruining my lab schedule.”

Peter was frozen in place, staring at the screen and the security footage playing there. He watched as Tony held his pillow just out of reach, forcing Peter to use his webbing to try to retrieve it.

He remembered that day, remembered chasing Tony down the hall, practically bowling over Bruce and Pepper in the process. He expected the memory to hurt, as all his memories of Tony seemed to these days, but instead of the pain welling in his chest and constricting his throat, he felt…

Well, not quite happy, but not sad either. Instead of pain in his chest, there was almost warmth, something comforting that curled around his stomach and spread through his body as he watched the footage, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

The video ended but instantly started replaying, clearly on some kind of loop, and Peter cleared his throat. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., what file is this?”

“Security footage,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. provided instantly.

“Well, I know that,” Peter scoffed. “But why is it here?”

The question was ambiguously worded, but F.R.I.D.A.Y. seemed to understand what he meant. “Mr. Stark archived this security footage and saved it to his personal server under folder ‘Peter’,” she reported. “Shall I play the next video?”

“There’s more?” Peter asked softly, more rhetorically than anything, and this time, F.R.I.D.A.Y. didn’t answer, merely opening the folder on the screen and showing the literal hundreds of saved files, all neatly labeled in reverse chronological order, the most recent being just a few short days before the attack by Thanos. He felt tears prick in his eyes again, but not like before, not crushed with overwhelming grief like he had been just a few minutes ago.

And even though he knew the answer, he still had to ask— “When were these security videos last accessed?”

F.R.I.D.A.Y. read off the date, and Peter closed his eyes.

Tony had last watched the footage when Peter was...well, when he was gone.

He had sat here, in this very lab, probably staring at this very screen and probably feeling a lot like Peter did now, and he had watched footage of them together in happier times. Had maybe laughed a little, watching their antics, watching that time Peter had rigged DUM-E with a Nerf gun and instructed him to shoot Tony every time he walked into the lab, or else maybe he had cried just like Peter was now, at all the times Peter had fallen asleep in the lab on the nearest flat surface and Tony had draped a blanket over him, ruffled his hair, and whispered goodnight.

Tony had saved everything, and had watched it in his darkest, loneliest hours, and Peter’s heart had never felt so full.

“Shall I play the next video?” F.R.I.D.A.Y. repeated, something almost gentle in her tone, and Peter nodded, wiping the tears from his cheeks with the heel of his hand.

“Yeah,” he said hoarsely. “Play the next one.”


End file.
